A new
Weather Surveillance Radar-1988, Doppler (WSR-88D) in Grays Harbor County, WA,
is expected to be operational by September 30, 2011.The NWS is planning a 1-year field test of an
additional scanning angle less than 0.5 degree elevation (initially 0.176 degree)
on the new radar to determine the operational benefit(s) of having a lower scan
angle. The test is scheduled to begin November 1, 2011.

To reduce
impacts on users, Level III products will not include data from the lower
scanning angle.Thus, the product formats
and contents will not change during the field test.Users will notice volume coverage pattern (VCP)
durations increase by
30 to 150 seconds when the experimental lower scanning angle
is in use.

To support
the real-time and post-analysis of the impacts of the lower scan angle data,
the Level II data stream will include the data from the experimental lower scan
angle when in use.The Seattle Weather
Forecast Office will be able to turn the lower elevation scan on and off. Details
of Level II data changes when the additional test scan angle is being used are
as follows:

1.Experimental VCP
numbers will increase by two, i.e., VCP11 will be VCP13